Carbondale Reporter

City of Carbondale Preservation Commission met February 13.

Here is the minutes as provided by the commission:

1. Roll Call: Mr. Clark called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m.

Members Present: Wren, Clark, Doherty, Ittner, Van Awken, Benedict, and Zurlinden

Members Absent: Comparato and Sigler

Staff Present: Lawrence

Guests: Bruce Ashby

2. Approval of Minutes: Ms. Ittner moved to, and was seconded by Mr. Wren, approve the

minutes of January 9, 2017.

The motion to approve the minutes passed with a unanimous voice vote.

3. Communication and Reports:

a) Educational and Technical Assistance Committee

Ms. Ittner spoke about having the Oral History projects available at both City Hall and

the Carbondale Public Library. Ms. Ittner also stated that she is in the process of

completing Marion Mitchell’s oral history and she gave a report on how the oral history

is going.

Ms. Benedict spoke about a book called Architectural History of Carbondale by Susan S.

Maycock and Ms. Ittner stated that Ms. Maycock is donating all of her materials to

Morris Library.

b) Nomination and Hardship Committee

Nothing to report.

c) Work Plan Committee

Nothing to report.

d) Certificate of Appropriateness Committee

Ms. Lawrence spoke about the potential purchase of 513 West Walnut Street and that she

never heard anything from the potential buyers so they would not be following through at

that address. Ms. Lawrence stated that the board at the Varsity was interested in putting

color on the marquee message board on the building at certain times of the year and

possible imagery as well, to attract more people to the theater. Ms. Ittner asked for a copy

of the current agreement with the Varsity to see if the changes are possible and Ms.

Lawrence stated that she would be emailing the Commissioners the copy within the next

few days. There was then discussion about the Preservation Commission’s role with the

Varsity renovations and signage change.

e) Founder’s Park Subcommittee

Mr. Clark spoke about the subcommittee going in front of City Council and the

possibility of moving forward after hearing the City Councils thoughts. Mr. Clark also

spoke about the power point presentation that was going to be shown at the City Council

meeting on February 14th and the feedback that he received from the fellow

Commissioners. Ms. Ittner questioned when the City Council would get back to the

Preservation Commission with their thoughts about Founder’s Park. Ms. Lawrence stated

that she felt that City Council would have an answer to the request at the time of the

presentation. There was then discussion about the Commission members attending the

City Council meeting to show support for the presentation and the presentation being

listed on the City Council agenda, but it will be listed in the minutes of the meeting.

There was also discussion about the Carbondale Park District meeting and what they had

in the works for the Founder’s Park location. Ms. Lawrence stated that she had emailed

the power point presentation to the City Manager and he asked for one amendment to be

made to the presentation with the scale of the map.

f) Founders’ Day Subcommittee

Mr. Van Awken spoke about the communications that he has had with other local parks

and their successes at similar events at their locations that the Founder’s Day

subcommittee might be able to use for their event. Mr. Clark stated that moving forward

with Founder’s Day planning might be easier once the Commission has presented to City

Council.

4. Old Business:

a) Ms. Lawrence stated that at the last meeting it was a mentioned about reviewing the

list of potential properties of historic designation and that a new resolution would

have to be put forth to amend the current list of properties. Ms. Lawrence stated that

the Commission would have to look at the properties that need to be added or

removed from the property list because it has been since 1992 that the list was

updated. It was then discussed whether process would fall under a certain committee

or if a subcommittee would need to be formed for this process and researching the

properties that were demolished and if a permit was issued. Ms. Lawrence and Ms.

Ittner then discussed providing the Commission with a list of designated properties

and which ones are on the national registry and the state registry.

b) The potential placard for the new development east of the Carbondale Public Library

was then discussed. Mr. Sigler was provided the information from Ms. Lawrence in

order to reach out to the doctor’s office going in at that location but she was unaware

of any action taking place at this time.

c) Ms. Lawrence stated that after speaking with the Director of Development Services,

the Preservation Commission would be able to use some of the department’s budget

to print a letter of introduction if they choose to do so. Ms. Lawrence stated that she

also looked at the resumes that were provide by the Commissioners and that they

were not as descriptive at she had anticipated and the Commissioners might need to

provide more information if they want to move forward with the letter. The

formatting of the bios, the desired result of providing the letters of introduction, and a

possible deadline for the bios to be turned into Ms. Lawrence was then discussed.

Mr. Zurlinden stated that the Commission’s presence and letting the community know

who Commission members were would help with the involvement in the community.

Ms. Ittner discussed putting the bios in the Carbondale Communique. Ms. Lawrence

stated that she would do some research into what needs to be included in the bios and

what the City expects to be included.

d) Mr. Wren stated that he was going to look at the images located in the planning

library and that he would email out the different images that might possibly be used

for Commission feedback. Ms. Lawrence brought up a suggestion from Steven

Mitchell, the Economic Director for the City of Carbondale, to use historic pictures

from the era of the last solar eclipse in this area for the project.

e) Ms. Lawrence stated that the call for nominations for the Annual Historic Award

Program is currently listed in the Carbondale Communique and the she was providing

the Commission with a list of previous awardees from past years. Mr. Clark

questioned if the Commission should have more involvement in getting nominations

for these types of award programs and Ms. Ittner expressed the need for involvement

and seeking out properties. It was then discussed about looking ahead to 2018 of

getting certain properties recognized. Ms. Lawrence then stated that she would have

the nominations for the Commission to look at the next meeting to discuss who the

award would be presented to. It was then discussed what makes a property qualify for

this award.

5. New Business:

a) Ms. Lawrence discussed the FY 2016 annual report that she provided to the

Commission and certain items that might need to be added to the report for the end of

the year. Ms. Ittner stated that the oral histories need to be added to the report and the

possibility of adding their neighborhood walk thru that was done. It was also

discussed the monitoring of the downtown buildings to make sure buildings are not

falling into disrepair.

b) Ms. Lawrence stated that it was discussed with her that standing committees needed

to be reviewed and people needed to be added to certain committees. It was then

discussed how many people could be on certain committees and who would like to be

in certain committees. Kathy Benedict and Jordan Wren were added to the

Educational and Technical Assistance Committee. Ms. Lawrence also discussed the

duties of the Certificate of Appropriateness Committee and asked if anyone would

like to serve as alternates for that committee. Ed Van Awken, Jordan Wren, and

Barbara Doherty all stated that they would serve as alternates for the COA committee.

6. Comments by the Public, Commission Members or Staff:

Ms. Lawrence stated that she was asked to make the Commission aware that their

regularly scheduled meeting for August 21st needed to be cancelled or moved due to the

eclipse activities. As a result, the Commission decided to add a meeting to the schedule

on July 17th. Ms. Lawrence also spoke about the Downtown Design Standards meeting

that will be taking place on March 8th and passed out materials to advertise the event.

7. Adjournment:

Mr. Clark adjourned the meeting at 8:30 p.m

http://explorecarbondale.com/sites/default/files/Board%20and%20Commissions%20Minutes.pdf